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Beloved women’s fashion brand to shut 26 stores as hunt for buyer continues
The 58-year-old Australian fashion retailer faces an uncertain future as receivers work through competing offers to sell the struggling business.
- Receivers FTI Consulting will begin closing 26 Cue Clothing stores across its Cue and Veronika Maine brands.
- It is the second round of closures, after the receivers announced five store closures in September, three days into the receivership.
- Receivers have shortlisted a small number of bidders, but no sale has been agreed, and department store concessions are unaffected.
Sydney-based fashion business Cue Clothing is set to close 26 stores across its Cue and Veronika Maine labels, after bidders for the womenswear group indicated they do not want to keep them.
Receivers Kate Warwick and Vaughan Strawbridge of FTI Consulting said in a statement provided to The Money Edition that the closure program would begin on Thursday across both labels.
“The timing of closures will vary by store and will largely depend on stock levels,” the receivers said.
In a receivership, a secured lender appoints receivers to take control of a company’s assets and recover the money it is owed, often by trading on and selling the business.
A month in, no buyer has been confirmed, in what is the second round of cuts since the 58-year-old company collapsed. Last month, FTI announced it would close five stores, calling it “a difficult decision.”
Parties in the sale process were asked to name the stores they would want in any deal.
Based on that feedback and the offers submitted, the receivers said, “There is a common group of stores [that] parties have indicated they would not be seeking to continue with.”
Kate Warwick and Vaughan Strawbridge said there is “no impact to the concession network” and the intention is “to redeploy team members into continuing stores whenever possible.”
Cue Clothing’s secured lenders appointed FTI on September 15, the same day BDO’s Duncan Clubb and Shaun McKinnon were named voluntary administrators.
“There are still a number of commercial and transaction matters being worked through with the shortlisted parties,” the receivers said.
The Money Edition has reached out to Cue Clothing for comment.
Topics: Cue